Saturday's loss to Fiji shatters England's World Cup hopes as Steve Borthwick's men head to France. Photo: Getty Images/Clive Mason
We have reached the point where England promises ad nauseam that they will peak. All the low numbers of this terrible chapter — the chorus of crowd jeers after the defeat to South Africa, the record defeat to France, the killer return of four victories from six nations out of 10 — could be ignored with the nonchalant certainty that: the World Cup will come, and everything will be in okay at night.
So, we are on the eve of the team's departure to their training base in Le Touque, and their idea of a bright send-off is to lose at home to Fiji. Supporters can be forgiven for thinking they are considered fools.
“We want to take the fans with us on the journey,” Jamie George said earlier this month. England has done admirably on this front, in much the same way that Professor Otto Lidenbrock did when Jules Verne sent him on a journey to the center of the earth. At the same stage four years ago, 12 days before the World Championships, Eddie Jones majestically likened his team to climbers climbing Everest with burning ears and a runny nose when they pass the third camp. What kind of metaphor would fit today's development trajectory under Steve Borthwick? Mariana Trench?
If only the truth were so exotic. The main problem with this England team is not their inability to attack, defend or show even a modicum of Fijian flair, but their struggle to evoke passionate emotion of any kind. You may be emboldened by the Rugby Union's fervent outrage at spending so much money building such an ordinary team, but the prevailing reaction is a fatalistic acceptance that this is how things are now.
Simione Curuvoli from Fiji leads the celebration of his team. Photo: Reuters/Andrew Mogridge
The figures of the crowd do not lie. England final warm-up attendance? 56 854. And for the fact that South Africa crushed the All Blacks the night before? 80,827. The England women's team won a bigger gate in their latest Test, a thrilling 38–33 victory over France in April, attended by over 58,000 people. As for the explanation for the many empty seats, it is not to be found in the train strikes in southwest London, but in the sheer pomposity of the home team's rugby. There is a growing feeling that many diehard England fans would rather creosote the back fence than watch the last Boardball exhibition in Lumpen.
The players are, as expected, offended by the criticism. «Write us off, all the best,» wrote Ellis Genge. But what else do they expect when they continue to perform for far less than the sum of their roles? When Borthwick was appointed to the position last December, the viciousness with which the Jones era ended gave him, in effect, a free kick. Despite England battling for a second weak two-win six-nation win in a row, the head coach's sentences were startlingly generous as he pleaded with doubters to keep the faith. He assured that everything would be fine if everyone was in the camp for a long period to share his philosophy.
It has been seven weeks since the England team first gathered for warm-weather training in Verona. Seven weeks to create a form, structure and master plan based on more than just an unrelenting belief in your footwork. So please spare us the notion that Borthwick was not given the luxury of time. No one expected that the bribery received in half a summer would lead to the emergence of future world champions, but it seemed reasonable to hope that they would appear with a personality or an air of knowledge of what they want to achieve.
Instead, dysfunction reigns. The verdict against Fiji came from Matt Dawson, one of the 2003 World Cup winners, who accused England of playing like it was their first game with each other. This is an accusation, at least in part, of Borthwick's coaching. Who, can we really say, flourished under his leadership? It was hoped that in the person of Freddie Steward, England had made potentially the most exciting discovery in the past four torrid years. But the shine is fading at an alarming rate: first there was a penalty concede against Wales, then a miserable high ball game when Fiji felt the blood.
Where is Maro Itoye? After Locke managed to defeat New Zealand at the last World Cup, his career took off on a dizzying path, and his contract with Jay-Z's Roc Nation agency typified his crossover appeal. At 28 years old, he should be at the peak of his powers, but he increasingly looks lost without any of his usual destructive threat. Little expresses England's decline as much as the rapidly declining value of its star assets.
Maro Itoha needs to rediscover his mojo – fast Photo: Getty Images/Phil Mingo
It seems like an understatement to suggest they've been staring down the barrel of their worst horror since 2011, when their World Cup campaign flopped amid an orgy of tossing midgets. At least you knew where you were with this incorrigible company. This time, the feeling is not so much confusion as a gloomy and sullen drift. Chaos that can sometimes be excused. But the richest nation in world rugby looks like it has worked itself into a state of paralysis, rejecting every glimpse of potential. No matter what happens in France, one thing remains for sure: England's behavior in this World Cup has been nothing short of disgraceful.
Свежие комментарии